Eccleston Square Hotel's company director, Olivia Byrne, has
something to celebrate this month. She is celebrating the hotel's
one year anniversary since its opening in August of 2011, following
a £6.5 million renovation. Proclaimed as Europe's most high-tech
hotel, the 39-room adults-only boutique hotel, situated in one of
Belgravia's most elegant squares, offers a technological edge that
is unique to London's boutique hotel scene.

Following a four-year search, Olivia's family bought the property
in 2010, which at the time was under another ownership operating as
a budget hotel. The one year renovation period transformed the
hotel with the aim of providing maximum room comfort for guests,
including 3D Panasonic TVs, iPads and the 'world's best beds' by
Swedish manufacturer Hästens. The hotel also has a restaurant -
Bistrot on the Square - serving authentic, high-quality and
affordable French cuisine.

How did the idea of becoming a 'high-tech hotel' come
about?

Competition in London is very intense, so it was important for us
to find a niche. We had to ask ourselves the question 'what do
modern travellers want that our competitors do the least?' The idea
of high-tech wasn't conceived straight away. It was more of an
evolution that started with wanting to provide our guests with the
best sleeping experience. Then the idea of providing the best
visual experience followed. The concept of providing a
technologically-enhanced guest room then fell naturally into
place.

What has been your most popular in-room technology
feature?

Our in-room iPad is very popular as there is every possible
conceivable function on it, providing the guest with control,
convenience and real-time customised content. Using ICE technology,
we also have our own-branded iPad app , which acts as an effective
concierge tool. As it's integrated with our PMS system, no data
re-entry is required. Digitised content saves us money in printing,
and most importantly, we can monitor usage, allowing us to optimise
further our service offering.

After six months of opening, Eccleston Square Hotel won
the 2011 "In- Room Technology Innovation" award at the European
Hospitality Awards. Do you feel under any pressure in keeping up
with the pace of technology?

What's important for the guest experience is not necessarily about
offering the latest technology, but more how different technologies
work in combination with each other. The integration of VDA's
Vitrum Glassware collection and its Micromaster room automation
solution for example, allows our guests to use simple keypad
technology to control all types of functionality within the room.
At the same time our staff can automatically set the rooms to
dormant mode, or switch-off certain functions like heating/cooling.
Not only is it in keeping with the high-level design and luxury
throughout the hotel, but the system is also customisable so that
it can lower the hotel's consumption and carbon footprint.
Implementing systems that are scalable is important for us to
initiate technological improvements, which can allow us to
continuously increase the quality of service delivery to our
guests.

Not every guest will necessarily stay at your hotel
because of its technological attributes. So how do you make sure
you balance out its other attributes such as location, service and
brand in order not to alienate other types of client
segments?

We have spent a lot of time and effort in thinking of in-room
details such as the bed, the shower, the soundproofing. It's fine
if the guests do not want to use the technology. On the other hand,
we offer an amazing bed to sleep in and high-end finishes inside
the room, to be able to give them as much comfort as possible. Yes,
we do position our hotel as being high-tech, but we also place a
lot of emphasis on the wellbeing aspect, and offering maximum
comfort to our guests is key.

www.ecclestonsquarehotel.com
A Member of Design Hotels

Nathalie Salas is a writer for Perfect
Boutique Hotel, a website dedicated to readers who have a
passion for boutique and lifestyle hotels. She is a also a
freelance consultant specialising in hospitality and tourism,
helping small businesses improve their marketing and branding on an
international level. Nathalie is British and lives in Asolo,
Italy.